


You Are My Way

by AutumnsThief



Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Romance, Uber
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 15:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4185525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnsThief/pseuds/AutumnsThief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU, set during the Crusades. Two guardians under Xena and Gabrielle's guidance are caught in a spiral of hate, violence, deception, and greed. Will the guardians find what they have lost in each other? Will God triumph or will evil prevail?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dust Devil

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set during the time of the Crusades and is centered around all things spiritual (angels, demons, God, etc.). I try to keep a balance between some historical accuracy and entertainment. Although religion/spirituality is the center of the story and its historical backdrop, it is a work of fiction. This story is not meant to promote or condemn any religion or set of beliefs.
> 
> There will be some violence, cursing, and romantic scenes. Nothing really extreme or excessive (it's all pretty much in line with what you would find on the show).

_Once, a long, long time ago, all people had four legs and two heads. And then the gods threw down thunderbolts, and split everyone into two. Each half then had two legs and one head. But the separation left both sides with a desperate yearning to be reunited. Because they each shared the same soul. And ever since then, all people spend their lives searching for the other half of their soul._  - Gabrielle.

* * *

 

"What is this godforsaken place?" the young squire grumbled, stumbling down the narrow, rocky path.

"Do you think it wise to use the Lord's name in vain on a pilgrimage?" an older squire walking in front of him loudly retorted, "You insolent little sop." he added in a mumble under his breath.

The thin and slightly worn line of travelers warily snaked its way down out of the hills. The surroundings were uninviting, rocky with sparse brush. The horses and carts kicked up dust all around them and the sun beat down on them relentlessly. It was nothing like the desert oases described in the stories they heard. They all quietly prayed to finally reach their destination safely.

A sudden growing rumbling of hooves coming from over one of the hills told them that this time their prayers would remain unanswered. The group of pilgrims stopped their caravan and turned to watch the ominous, thundering dust cloud approach. A group of marauders swept down the hills, yelling and swinging their swords that flashed in the hot sun. To the exhausted and foreign pilgrims they looked like mad demons who came straight down from the dark storm clouds gathering and swiftly advancing on the horizon. They had heard the stories of marauders attacking, robbing travelers of everything and murdering everyone if they so choose.

These pilgrims ignorantly traveled without any real escort, but it didn't matter to Karas for whom the spoils were more important then the honor of the fight. As the marauders closed in, the pilgrim women huddled into a circle as far from the attackers as they could while the armed men readied themselves. At first, the bandits simply circled the group, whooping and brandishing their swords, knowing very well that the fact the travelers had weapons didn't mean they knew how to use them.

"Well, let's get the heathens!" the young, grumbling squire foolishly cried, drawing his sword and letting desert hell break loose.

To Eden it didn't matter anymore. More fighting, more killing; it was all just more waste. She didn't rush in like the rest of the band with a charge of vicious energy. Instead, she dismounted her horse and walked up towards all the mayhem. One of the women in the party, dressed in a green dress with a bag slung across her chest, noticed Eden on the horizon, a different and darker marauder from the rest of the band and she was strangely awestruck for the figure was almost an evil sight to behold.

The heat rose from the ground and the dark bandit came forth like a nightmarish mirage being molded into a reality. The garments were all black from the boots to the turban, the loose material flapping in the desert breeze and making the marauder look even more demonic. Black, leather scaled armor was all the armor worn and from a thick, black belt hung a broadsword. The silver hilt was the only color other than black, except for the eyes of the marauder that watched with a gaze that seemed to pierce anything it touched. The angry fluttering of the black material covering the rest of the face only made the gaze more bone chilling.

The woman noticed the black bandit approaching with such calm that it was beyond simple determination; she was approaching with the emptiness of lack of purpose and the woman could almost feel her hollowness, it was so vast and loud. The woman in green looked on in startled fascination as Eden slowly unsheathed her sword in a manner that brought a chill up the spine. She walked almost straight into the middle of the battle without the slightest disturbance. Suddenly, the young squire who had started the whole frenzy jumped in front of the black bandit, pointing his sword at her menacingly. She barely acknowledged his existence. He continued to swing his sword around, trying to provoke the black marauder into a fight.

"Come on, heathen. Taste my Frankish sword." he taunted.

"Really?" Eden muttered and raised one eyebrow, sighing loudly.

She took her sword and struck it into the sand. The young squire knotted his brows in surprised confusion and looked at the black bandit with uncertainty. An evil look slid across her face and she outstretched her hand in front of her and then beckoned him to come at her. Yet he stood in place, unable to read the bandit's intentions.

"Come on now, you're not afraid of a...woman, now are you?" she sneered with an evil calm.

His eyes grew wide and then he grit his teeth and charged at her, yelling wildly. She showed no emotion, there was no crack in her cold and calm demeanor as she watched him hurl forward and at the last moment, she took a step sideways and elbowed him in the temple so hard that he flew to the side, dropping his sword. He landed on the ground with a large, heavy thud and before he could gather his wits, her boot was on his throat and his sword was pointed in his face.

"Well, that was...challenging." she mocked and the squire began to struggle in anger.

"Ah, ah, ah," she said, waving one finger in disapproval and putting more force on his neck, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. But then again, fortunately I'm not you." she teased.

In a quick motion, she pulled out her dagger with her free hand, lifted her boot off the man's neck and knelt next to him, putting the dagger at the side of his neck and the sword under his chin.

"Now tell me, oh brave and gallant warrior, what should I do with you, hm?" she hissed into his face. "Kill you now or let you go and kill you later?"

The squire's foolish bravado disappeared when he felt the blade tips on his skin. He began to tremble, looking into the steely gaze of the midnight phantom.

"You, you're the Black Watcher, aren't you? Please, please don't kill me." he begged.

"Oh, the pleading type, my favorite." she said, rolling her eyes.

She glanced at the others and saw that the rest of the fighting travelers were already either on the run or lying dead or wounded. She suddenly felt tired and indescribably irritated.

"If you do everything else the same way you fight, then I'm surprised you're still alive you boring, idiotic bastard. Now, I'm going to tell you what to do you little horse's ass and you're going to listen, alright?"

The squire nodded, his eyes wide with fear.

"Good, you're not as stupid as you look. See, I'm having a particularly...interesting mood today so I'm going to let you go and you're going to get up and run for your life as fast as your pathetic little legs can take you, understand?" she stated and pushed his sword against his chin a little harder for emphasis.

He nodded fiercely. She smiled coldly, took the weapons away, and got up. She tossed his sword back at him and then turned away. As she was sheathing her dagger, the squire scurried back up. He breathed heavily and the fear in his eyes turned into wild anger and with sword in hand, he charged her from the back.

"No!" the woman traveler, who had been observing all this from a distance, instinctively cried.

The black bandit had already sensed the presence of the charging squire. She calmly pulled her sword out of the sand and neatly turned around, letting him impale himself on her blade.

"Seems you're much stupider than you look, canis." the black marauder said to the dying squire, pulling her sword out of him sharply and letting him roughly drop dead on the sand.

She then turned her gaze to the direction of the cry and caught the eyes of the woman watching her from afar. The woman in green gasped, but the marauder didn't move or speak. That small moment which was inconsequential to everyone else left an imprint on the minds of the two women when their eyes locked. Despite the woman's fear and the bandit's disregard, something passed between them on the thread of that gaze though so minute that it was barely noticeable. Eden wondered why she had been warned and so did the woman in green. And after that fragile moment passed, Eden simply turned away.

The black bandit calmly walked back to her horse and when she reached it, took out a cloth from the saddlebag and wiped her blade before sheathing it. She was wary, she simply wanted to reach Antioch. She wished for this little raid to end quickly so that they could be on their way and she lightly caressed the dagger beneath her cloak. She has a destiny to meet. The heat, the fighting, the world made her immensely tired and she leaned on the side of her saddle with one hand and pulled away the fabric mask off her face with the other as if she had trouble breathing. The staring woman in green gasped inwardly when she finally saw that the terrifying black marauder was a woman.

When all the men had already fallen or ran blindly across the desert, Karas shifted his attention to the group of women who had herded themselves next to the only cart which hadn't overturned.

"Well, look at what we have here." he sneered.

He rode up to the woman in green who looked to be the most sophisticated of the group. She tore her gaze from Eden and turned it to Karas as he reached out to touch her face. She slapped his hand away.

"Oh, feisty, I like that." he simply replied, his sneer growing wider with his men now circling the women and jeering.

"Stay back, infidel." the woman warned in a quiet, but steady voice and suddenly brandished a dagger.

Eden took notice as did everyone else. It was a mistake to pull a blade on the raiders; it was an even bigger mistake to use the word "infidel" so readily for it was not a word taken lightly in these parts.

"Wench!" Karas yelled and backhanded her with his mailed fist so hard that she fell over onto her back.

The woman yelped, hit the sand, but almost as soon as she hit the ground, she groaned and got right back up again, standing defiantly against Karas, dagger still in hand, oblivious to the cut and quickly growing welt on her cheek.

"Oh, you like it hard? That I can deliver." he sneered and dismounted his horse. He walked up to the woman in about three big steps. She raised the dagger at him with a stance that showed both her defiance and lack of experience in fighting. With another backhand he knocked the weapon from her hand and with a punch to the face she flew to the ground with a loud groan. She spit out blood from her cut lip.

"You like that? I have more where that came from, latin whore." he spat out and started stomping towards the fallen woman who was trying to stand back up again.

Watching all this and reacting unconsciously, Eden approached quickly and suddenly stood between Karas and the woman, which she knew was a dangerous position to be.

"Out of my way!" he yelled and tried to push Eden away yet she caught his hand and stopped him.

"Karas, it's just some merchant's daughter. The men that ran across the hills, they were squires, one of them will have more on them than all these maids put together. Not to mention the wealth they carried." she explained, motioning her head to the trunks in the carts.

She knew that Karas was all about profit, looting, and pillaging and she watched him trying to decide whether to teach the annoying woman a lesson or simply gather everything up and visit the tavern in town earlier and in a better mood.

"They will fight to the death-" the woman in green began to cry when Eden interrupted.

"Shut up before I cut out your tongue and make you swallow it!" she shouted straight in her face with a tone and gaze that pushed the woman back down onto the ground. Karas grinned at the sight.

"You go after them, they haven't gotten very far. I'll... take special care of this annoying little harlot." Eden said quietly, turning back to Karas and he grinned wider.

"You heard her, let's go boys, we've got cowardly squire to catch!" he yelled.

"Zauba'a! Zauba'a!" the men cheered at Eden, raising their swords in the air and she lightly gave a flick of her hand above her head in acknowledgment.

The marauders yelped and shouted, spurring their horses and forming into a tighter group. Karas got on his horse and galloped off, the rest of the raiders following close behind him and leaving behind a flurry of stones, twigs, and dust. The moment the marauders rode away far enough, the rest of the women started to either run in no particular direction with a squeal or break down and cry. Eden threw them a cold look of sarcastic pity, rolled her eyes, and mounted her horse and started to ride away.

"Wait! Wait!" the woman in green yelled, running after her until Eden stopped.

Eden spun around.

"What is it?" she asked impatiently.

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Are you just going to leave me here? Out in the desert with no horse and no escort?"

"Well, yes." she retorted and turned the horse back towards her destination.

"You can't do that! Please, don't leave me here!" the woman screamed, falling to her knees.

Eden turned around again a second time.

"Look, I have no quarrel with you. But I have no use for you either."

"I can give you money for your troubles. Jewels, trinkets, whatever you want." the woman offered energetically.

Eden flashed a short, sarcastic grin.

"Look your majesty, just because I ride with those men doesn't mean that I think like they do."

"If you don't then why do you keep their company?"

The honest yet shrewd reply escaped the woman's lips before she could check herself and Eden was annoyed.

"Maybe your sharp tongue will help you out of your predicament." she shot out and started to turn her horse around again.

"No, please!" the woman cried with exasperation and raised her hands in the air in a show of peace, "Please. Please help me."

Eden glared at her hard. She just wanted to go, to walk the rest of her path, to follow the rope to the end. She finally looked into the woman's eyes for longer than just a moment and couldn't help but notice their distinct green.  _Like_ _an oasis in the middle of this godforsaken dirt._

"What exactly do you want from me?" Eden asked, somehow not being able to tear herself from that green gaze.

The woman looked at the black raider. She really was a rather terrifying sight to behold. Dressed like death, she rode a horse that was even darker, a shining black like a crystal night sky. All that could be seen of the woman was her face and all attention was automatically drawn to two piercing, dark blue eyes that looked like they could penetrate a person's being to later tear its heart out alive. Yet the woman could swear that she saw some faint and distant glimmer of something else in the far corners of those eyes, something she could not at all describe, but something she somehow put her trust in despite everything.

"Just take me to the nearest town. That's all I'm asking. I won't be a further bother. Please."

Eden sighed deeply. Then the horse suddenly interrupted the conversation by slowly trotting up to the woman, something he never did and Eden knotted her brows and pulled back on his reins. She considered his actions for a short moment and then turned back to the woman.

"As long as you don't pull your dagger on me."

"As long as you don't call me a harlot and threaten to cut out my tongue." the woman returned, but in a sudden, slightly playful tone and Eden didn't know whether to slap the woman like Karas did or simply laugh and turn away.

"I can't decide," she began, leaning down on the pommel of her saddle, "whether you are incredibly brave or incredibly foolish."

"Probably more of the latter." the woman replied in the same tone and turning her head to one side.

Eden leaned back in her saddle and huffed, lightly amazed by almost everything in their conversation and especially by the fact that the woman didn't seem to be terrified of her. After some deliberation and the horse's impatient plodding about, she thrust out her hand and the woman got to her feet, grabbed her arm, and not without some trouble, hoisted herself onto the saddle in back of Eden.

"What about your...comrades?" the women in green asked after she had adjusted herself in the saddle as much as she could.

"Comrades?" Eden echoed sarcastically, raising one eyebrow, "Oh, they'll be just fine without me."

Eden took the reins, nudged the horse around, and they started down the road to Antioch.


	2. Shelter From the Storm

They rode in silence, the only noises being the dirt beneath the hooves of the trotting horse and the desert breeze. Eden appreciated the quiet, the lack of the constant jeering or whooping, the release and expanse she felt riding without the others. And though her body was stiff in control over the horse and awareness of her surroundings, a part of her mind relaxed, letting itself wander out to the horizon and back again, burying odds and ends of thoughts in shallow graves along the way.

The woman shifted uneasily on the horse, unaccustomed to riding this way. She began to feel every stone and dip in the road and desperately searched for something to take her mind off her hurting back and rear.

"I don't think I had a chance to properly introduce myself," she started and didn't see Eden roll her eyes when she extended her hand, "I am Arielle of Avignon."

"Arielle of Avignon." Eden simply repeated, ignoring the hand.

Arielle pulled her hand back after a while with a sigh. She waited a few moments, but finally realized that the rider had no real intention of carrying on the conversation and she bit her bottom lip lightly, trying to think of a way around the problem.

"Avignon is so much different than this place," Arielle tried again. "It's so far from these lands. It's a part-"

"Of the Holy Roman Empire. I know." Eden interrupted roughly.

"Oh, well, yes. Have you ever been there?"

"No."

Silence passed over them again. The storm clouds that had earlier only been on the horizon were now looming closely, threatening to catch up with them. The warmth of the now smothered sun was disappearing and the gathering breeze began to sneak through Arielle's dress. A cool gust sent a small chill up her spine and involuntarily made her move slightly forward against the warmth of Eden's back. She felt the rider jerk away at the touch and she pulled back immediately. After a moment or two, the rider returned back to her position.

"Which town," Arielle started, trying to escape the awkwardness of the situation, "are we going to?"

"Antioch."

"That's exactly where we were all headed!"

"I know." Eden replied with a disinterested sigh.

"In Antioch we were to split up. Some of us, myself included, were going to journey onward to Jerusalem. We were on a pilgrimage, you see."

"Ah, a woman of God..." Eden remarked.

"Well, yes." Arielle replied, knotting her brows, not knowing what to make of the comment. "Is that something strange?"

"No," Eden answered, shaking her head slowly, "you are one of many."

"Well, Jerusalem is the mecca for the reverent."

"Looking for God, finding those like Karas." Eden said absently.

"Well," Arielle explained with a hint of pride in her voice, "though I would have rather not met them, those raiders aren't going to make me turn back. Journeying down God's path is rarely simple."

"Naturally." Eden remarked, not even trying to hide her sarcasm.

"Are you a non-believer that you're mocking me?"

"First of all," Eden said, pulling up on the reins until they came to a stop and turning around towards Arielle which made her a little apprehensive, "I'm not mocking you...yet. Second of all, I know of God; we have a relationship the both of us can hardly stand; third of all, I think we might have to find shelter from the storm."

Arielle opened her mouth to comment that there was no storm, but was interrupted by a roll of thunder.

"See what I mean?" Eden added, raising one eyebrow and flashing a cocky grin.

Arielle only nodded silently and Eden turned back around and nudged the horse forward again. Arielle tried to decide what the rider did more, amaze or annoy her. She had a strange honesty in the way she was, but her insolence was much more than anything she was used to. A new, much fiercer gust of wind brought her out of her thoughts and she instinctively pulled the collar of her dress around her neck and cursed herself for having left her cloak behind.

The clouds made good on their threat and large drops of rain began to slowly fall. Fortunately, Eden knew the road well and remembered that there was an old, abandoned hovel not far off where they could seek shelter. She turned her horse and nudged her off the road and into the rocks and brush. Arielle began to grow a little nervous; she was in a thunderstorm in the middle of the desert on the back of a horse that was being ridden by a black bandit who was now taking them off the road. She held the saddle a little more tightly; the horse's trot quickening with the intensifying rain. A quick, but loud peal of thunder scared a small shriek out of her. Eden paid her no mind, focused entirely on navigating the larger stones and getting to the hovel as quickly as possible. They reached it just in time.

Eden walked into the one room hovel after having tended to her horse just as the clouds gave way to a downpour that Arielle had never witnessed before.

"We'll wait out the storm here." Eden said after shutting the door behind her.

She saw Arielle standing in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do with herself and apprehensively looking at her.

"That is, of course, unless you want to continue." Eden drawled sarcastically.

"No, no." Arielle said quickly, trying to contain her nervousness. "We'll stay here."

Eden walked over to the table standing in the center of the room and slid her saddlebags off her shoulder,placing them on the tabletop. She dropped herself into one of the two dusty chairs and leaned back, resting her feet on the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Arielle carefully sit down on the other chair at the table, resting uncomfortably, her eyes falling everywhere, but not on the dark bandit. She looked so lost and out of place, like a puppy in the middle of a forest, that it produced a small inward smile of sympathy in Eden.

The storm soothed Eden. For a few moments, she rested her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes. Nearly any kind of sound of water had this effect on her and she listened to the pelting rain, the rushing of the water cascading down the walls of the hovel and she relaxed as much as she was able to. It felt nice; she found a peace in the ability of water to wash everything away.

Another loud crash of thunder shook the hovel and Arielle let out another shriek and Eden opened her eyes, turning to her. Arielle covered her mouth, embarrassed by her outcry and looked at Eden timidly. Eden regarded the woman's face and the wounds on it with a look that made Arielle feel like she was being judged for all her past and future sins and she squirmed slightly under the gaze.

"You took a good beating." Eden finally mentioned.

Arielle's expression turned to one of acknowledgment; she had almost forgotten. She raised one hand to her cheek and touched it too roughly and winced.

"Yes, it seems so. Is it really bad?"

"You'll live." she replied roughly, but after a few moments' afterthought added, "You should see to that cut though."

Arielle could feel the large welt that had developed on her cheek and the blood that had dried around it. She looked around the hovel and found a small mirror lying on a little table next to a wash basin. She got up, took the mirror and brought it back to the table. She then took the bag she had slung around her the whole time and removed it, taking out a handkerchief before placing the bag on the table. She began to tentatively try to clean the scrape, but each movement she made seemed to send a flash of pain through her face. She shyly glanced at Eden and then gasped.

During this time, Eden had unwrapped her turban and stood, unbuckling her sword belt, leaning her sword against the table when Arielle looked at her. Eden regarded her harshly and was about to ask with annoyance what it was that had scared her now, but after a moment decided against it. She looked at the wound again and saw that Arielle had little idea of what she was doing. Yet, Arielle had forgotten the handkerchief in her hand and the scrape on her cheek; she was overcome again by the raider's presence. The removed turban had uncovered raven-black hair, straight as an arrow and down to her shoulders with shorter fringes over her forehead. It spilled over her head like a black velvet curtain and seemed again to only exist in order to emphasize her enrapturing eyes. Arielle finally closed her eyes and shook her head lightly. She opened them again to see Eden still regarding her closely and she swallowed.

"Could you...?" Arielle tried to ask shyly, raising the handkerchief in her hand lightly, "No matter what I do, it seems to hurt a lot."

She saw no change in expression in the raider and she sighed quietly, resigned to taking care of herself as best she could. Eden contemplated her internally. There was a pure innocence in those green eyes that made the raider take notice; she hadn't seen it for such a long time. She examined the woman looking up at her. A slim, elegant figure in a pale green dress with a fabric and cut that screamed 'gentry'. Her emerald eyes, sharp but kind, gleamed out from under blond hair that ran down the length of her back, a long braid running down the middle. Eden would have said she looked like a fairy of the forest if she believed in them. The raider couldn't help but notice how ridiculously out of place Arielle seemed at that moment, but felt a tiny ray of respect for the blond because, despite all the circumstances, Arielle hadn't given up unlike the other lady companions she had been traveling with.  _This rain calms me too much_.

She saw Arielle put her hand with the handkerchief back down with resignation, sighing and slumping her shoulders.

"Here." she said shortly and picked up her chair and moved it next to Arielle, who sat up straight in excitement.

She sat in the chair, sideways to the table and then turned Arielle's chair to face her with little effort which produced a look of shock from the blond.

"First, you need some water." Eden instructed dryly and reached over to her saddlebags and pulled out a waterskin.

She stretched out her hand for the handkerchief which Arielle gave to her. Eden dampened it with some water and turned back to Arielle when she suddenly stopped. Arielle looked at her in confusion, watching her eyes rapidly dart into the corner of the room and twitch in what seemed to be anger. Before she could react, Eden took a deep breath and looked back at Arielle with unnamed purpose.

"It still might hurt a little, alright?" she said quietly and with an unreadable expression.

Arielle looked at her curiously for a few, very brief moments and then lightly nodded her head.

Eden then leaned in a little and began to carefully clean the wound with precision and concentration, touching her as little as possible. As Eden's hand danced around the swollen scrape, Arielle wondered how this person who seemed to be just another lost, ruthless ruffian could be so gentle. The same hands that had no doubt reeked much violence were now covering her face ever so lightly and trying to heal. This simple exchange between lady and raider was beyond anything she was able to fully grasp. There was tenderness and death in the same hands, regard and apathy in the same eyes. Arielle's mind wandered into the realm of her vivid imagination and she began to paint Eden in the shades of some kind of light and some kind of dark, wondering if such a being could exist in reality.

"Arielle?" Eden said in a low voice.

"Yes?" she whispered back.

"You're staring at me."

"Oh," Arielle said with a jolt, snapping out of her somewhat dreamy state with embarrassment. "I'm very sorry."

Eden continued her task, concentration etched on her face.

"There." she said, leaning back and placing the handkerchief on the table.

She reached over to her saddlebags again and took out a salve. She looked at Arielle and again the blond saw the strange, anger-like look in the raider's eyes. Eden cast them down.

"This will help it heal faster. It might sting a little at first, alright?" she said to the floor and only looked at Arielle when she was done speaking.

The blond nodded and again Eden leaned in and applied the salve skillfully.

"Done." she said and turned to put the salve back into the saddlebags.

"It didn't sting at all." Arielle said quietly, in genuine amazement of how the raider had treated her wound.

"The cut on your lip just needs cleaning." Eden added, betraying no emotion.

Arielle nodded at little absently and took the damp handkerchief and cleaned the cut on her lip, noticing that it hurt and wishing that the bandit could treat it too, but she quickly shooed the idea out of her head.

Eden got up, walked to the window, and watched the storm raging outside.

"This will still last for a while. Maybe rest." she suggested absently.

After a while, she walked back to the table tiredly, sat down, and began to take some food that she luckily had out of the saddlebags. She noticed Arielle looking pitifully at it. The woman didn't say a word, but her stomach growled instead and she covered it embarrassingly with her hand.

"Or eat something." Eden remarked with a disgruntled sigh and pushed the food into the middle of the table and motioned for the blond to help herself. Arielle almost jumped at it, but still tried to keep herself under control. After eating a few mouthfuls and washing it down with water, Arielle looked up at Eden who was quietly sitting, looking at the table, and picking at her food.

"What will happen to the squires if those marauders catch them?" Arielle asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"You mean when, not if."

"Alright, when?"

"I don't think you want to really know, duchess."

"They're going to be killed, aren't they? And the women?"

Eden didn't answer which was an answer in itself. Arielle sighed and leaned back in her chair a little, much less agitated now that she had something in her stomach though when she thought about her traveling companions, her stomach threatened to revolt.

"And you travel with these people? You condone this?" she asked, shaking her head with some agitation and automatically saw that she had overstepped her bounds when she met Eden's glare.

"Who are you to judge me?" she hissed through her teeth in a voice so low it was barely heard and with eyes that housed an igniting blaze, "You have no idea who I am. Or what I can do."

Arielle swallowed and found herself to be completely mortified.

"I'm, I'm sorry. I meant no offense." she said quickly.

"Really?" Eden coldly snarled, her eyes narrowing.

"You just strike me as different from those raiders." Arielle rushed in her defense in almost a whimper.

"Oh, amuse me. How?" Eden challenged, crossing her arms on her chest.

Arielle realized that those arms could probably grab and break her in two if they wanted. They just lingered there for her to see, almost daring her to say something stupid so that they could show her the extent of their power. She could feel her own arms going limp and her heart beginning to race faster and faster.  _She is truly terrifying_.

"Better." she simply said.

Prepared for a barrage of flowery words that carried little meaning, Eden was caught off-guard by the simple statement. In a fluttering moment, Arielle saw a stunned look cross Eden's face only to be quickly covered again by her stone mask of no emotion. And in a quiet moment, Eden noticed something change in Arielle's eyes, almost as if a different, wiser and more knowing person emerged from her to peel away the layers of the marauder and speak only truths. It made Eden want to physically draw back and evoked discomfort and anxiety within her. Arielle eased back in her chair a little.

"I really am sorry." she added and Eden just waved her hand, looking to the side and out the window.

The downpour had lessened somewhat, but it was still raining hard and the sun was setting over the horizon.

"We're going to have to sleep here tonight." she mumbled to the window.

They continued to eat in silence. Nibbling away contentedly, Arielle didn't notice Eden picking at her food only to finally push it towards Arielle with a hint of disgust. Only after she felt a pleasant heaviness in her stomach did the blond finally look up and notice that she had eaten a lot more than courtesy would allow. She blushed, embarrassed and rushed over several different excuses in her mind until she finally realized that Eden didn't seem to have noticed or cared. She sat with her elbow propped on the table, her chin resting on her hand, staring out the window into the growing darkness. At that moment, she looked quiet, thoughtful, and wise.  _Almost fragile._

"You know," Arielle started, breaking the silence, "I never thanked you for helping me today. With the raiders...and everything."

Eden only waved her hand again.

"No, really. It was very...brave what you did. And I know that you didn't have to. When we reach Antioch, I shall see to it that you are properly rewarded."

Eden turned her head slowly and Arielle suddenly remembered the comment she had made in the desert about giving her riches.

"That is," she said quickly, raising her palms up slightly in the air as a sign of no ill will, "if you want. I just want to show my appreciation."

"No need."

She frowned slightly, but in her mind Arielle decided that she would find a way to reward the marauder for her trouble.

"We should get some sleep," Eden finally said after some time, "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Arielle nodded and they got up from the table. Arielle had no bedclothes to change into so she simply removed her belt and shoes and lied down on one of the two straw beds in the hovel. She did so cautiously, but was too tired to pay enough attention to her out-of-ordinary circumstances to complain. Besides, Arielle treated it all as an adventure, like the ones she had read about or recited herself; she had finally broken free of her constraints. On the other side of the room, Eden had carried over her unsheathed sword and propped it up against the headboard. She took off her leather armor and boots and finally stretched herself out on the straw bed. With no fire, the room had become just as dark as the desert night and Eden closed her eyes and listened to the quiet falling of the rain.

"Sleep well." Arielle whispered timidly into the dark room.

Eden wanted to snort. Exchanging well wishes before sleep was just as common for her as straw beds in an abandoned hovel were for Arielle.

"Goodnight, Zauba'a." Arielle added, thinking the raider hadn't heard her before.

Eden frowned at the mention of the name even though she knew she hadn't told Arielle what her real one was.

"Zauba'a doesn't say goodnight. It always means goodbye." Eden murmured in a low voice, with a hint of sad recognition.

Arielle was so tired that her eyes had already grown too heavy to keep open and she fell asleep before she was able to wonder why the marauder had spoken of herself in the third person.


	3. Zauba'a

They awoke the next day to the rays of a risen sun spilling into the room.

Eden rose from the bed almost as if she had been shot out of a sling, stretching out her muscles and limbs in both an effort to drive away the rest of her sleep and to check if any of the previous day's events had taken any toll. After putting on her boots and leather armor, she briskly walked over to the wash basin, picked it up and walked out the door. When she came back, it was filled with rainwater taken out of a barrel outside. Eden washed her hands, face, and neck vigorously and then walked to the table. She wrapped the black turban around her head with ease and then fastened her sword belt around her waist, adjusting it a little on her hips until it felt comfortable. She repacked everything, save a piece of bread and a handful of dried figs, into the saddlebags and buckled them closed. She scanned the room to make sure everything was packed and that the hovel didn't betray too many signs of them being there although now, if Eden was to be honest, it didn't matter that much to her. She slung the saddlebags over her shoulder, scooped up the bread and figs, walked over to her bed and sheathed her broadsword. During this whole time, Arielle had managed to sit up.

Eden stood over the blond who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, seemingly oblivious to the entire world around her. Arielle finally noticed the raider waiting there.

"Good morning." she said cheerfully and with a slightly goofy smile on her face.

Eden simply stared at her with a look of puzzled amazement and fought off a fleeting urge to simply just drop everything, sit on the edge of the bed, and cry in disbelief. Yet, the blond read the stare quite well and began to scurry around the bed like a frightened mouse.

"Right, we should get going, shouldn't we?" she said rhetorically and crammed her feet into her shoes after tying her belt.

She noticed that everything had already been gathered up so she nearly ran to the basin, washed her face, and then turned back to the raider still staring at her.

"Right, so, I'm ready to go." she said gleefully, grabbing her bag and then her growling stomach interrupted, making her blush.

Eden rolled her eyes and shoved the bread and figs she had into the blond's hands before she made her way out of the hovel. Arielle followed the raider with her gaze wanting to thank her for the gesture, but the raider was out and gone before she had a chance, so she turned her attention to the food. She stood in the doorway, happily nibbling away until Eden rode up and stopped right next to her on her horse. Holding on to the remaining figs, she put her hands on her hips and marveled at the raider.

"I understand that you probably want to make some sort of a statement, but must you really wear only black?" she asked in cheery innocence.

Eden glared down at her and the blond began to raise her hands in front of her to start apologizing.

"It brings out my feminine side." she said coolly and with a raised eyebrow.

Arielle raised both eyebrows, pleasantly surprised with the comment and the sense of humor the raider had just betrayed she actually had.

"Now can we get going?" Eden asked, her face instantaneously serious and gave Arielle her hand.

Arielle nodded quickly, took her hand, and somewhat clumsily found her way onto the back of the saddle. Eden veered the horse towards their destination.

"Aren't we going to Antioch?" Arielle asked, noticing that they weren't making their way back to the road.

"We are. It's a shortcut." Eden answered and heard the blond swallow hard. "Relax. It really is a shortcut."

Arielle nodded and tried to calm her nerves by reasoning to herself that no one in their right mind would go through so much trouble to kill her. She munched on the two remaining figs in her hands and took in the sight of the desert, which she was frankly getting a little sick of.

"So, your name, what does it mean?" Arielle asked, trying to start a conversation and ignoring the raider's sigh.

"Zauba'a?"

"Yes. Does that mean something special?"

"It's a long story." Eden sighed and Arielle noticed a hint of sadness in it and decided not to press it.

"So..." she continued, looking for a new subject, "are you married?"

Eden snorted so loudly that for a moment Arielle was afraid that both of them might fall off the horse.

"Yes, right, well, I should have, um, guessed that." Arielle babbled out. "So maybe some fair-headed fiancé somewhere, hm?"

Eden pulled on the reins and turned around to glare at Arielle who flashed her a nervous, silly smile. Yet the raider could find nothing to say to the blond's playful innocence so instead she simply shook her head disapprovingly and turned back around, nudging the horse forward. Arielle took a deep, but quiet breath of relief. For a while, she watched the skilled ease with which the raider rode her horse, meandering in and out of the rocks and nooks without almost the slightest move, reins in one hand and her other lying lazily on her leg. She wondered how it was this woman seemed to do the complicated things almost idly, yet a conversation seemed to strain her.

"I don't have a husband either," Arielle decided to continue by focusing on herself, "though I can't say it's through my parents' lack of trying. None of their chosen suitors ever seemed to interest me. They tried to force me once, naturally, but I threw them a fit the size of the Byzantine Empire and they finally let it go. Instead, they pushed me off on this pilgrimage. They said that perhaps God would finally knock some sense into my head. I didn't mind, I welcomed the chance. The Holy Lands, knights, desert bandits, exotic languages and foods; what an adventure! It wasn't exactly something I would experience at home."

"My family generally thinks there might be a little something wrong with me. I exasperate them really." Arielle continued to chatter, in her element and not even noticing if Eden was listening to her or not, "I spend too much time with my head in the clouds, they constantly say, instead of keeping my feet firmly on the ground. My sister, she's their pride and joy; elegant, married... They think I'm a child... a disappointment..."

Eden noticed Arielle's voice grow sad and taper off, but could think of nothing to say. Arielle solemnly shook her head and sighed and was about to ask the raider about her family until she thought better of it. She continued to think of several other questions she would have already asked any other traveling companion, but found to be afraid to ask this particular one. She sighed in small defeat.

"You didn't have any breakfast." Arielle mentioned after a moment thoughtfully.

"Not hungry."

"How is that possible? I'm always hungry, but especially in the morning. You really can't have a good day without a good breakfast in my opinion. You really should eat something." Arielle said with cheery sympathy.

"I said I'm not hungry." Eden muttered coldly.

Arielle's shoulders slumped. She already regretted the morning. She regretted that she somehow hadn't stopped time and the raider right before they rode out to take in that small ray of humanity she had shown. She regretted whatever she had done or said to bring back that frigid marauder though God knew she had tried everything she could think of to pry that marble mask off.

"How far is it to Antioch?"

"Few days."

Arielle nodded and resigned herself to a few more days of going nowhere with the marauder. After that they would part ways although she knew she would regret that she didn't get to know the raider any better. She felt that great stories could be told of her if she would only let them be.

Eden had brought them to a stop and Arielle raised herself a little to see the reason. Eden peered out to see a skirmish going on ahead of them, kicking up dust and bringing shouts floating over the sand towards them. Her trained eye identified those defending themselves as some sort of merchants and those attacking as marauders. One of the merchants on a pale horse broke off from the fight and tried to ride away only to find one of the bandits right on his heels. Both riders kicked up a fierce cloud of dust as they spurred their horses as fast as they could, racing in Eden's direction.

"Damn it all..." Eden growled under her breath.

"What is it?" Arielle asked apprehensively.

"Karas..."

At that moment, Karas gained a little on the merchant and raised his sword as he kept advancing. He let out a bloodcurdling yell the likes of which Arielle had never heard, making her blood run cold and she watched his sword come down in one swift motion, striking the other rider down, leaving only a bloody heap in the sand. Karas noticed Eden watching him, reigned his horse into a more controlled gallop, and approached her.

"Open your mouth duchess and I'll leave you here in a heartbeat." Eden shot at Arielle, turning her head slightly to the side. The blond swallowed, wide-eyed.

"Zauba'a!" Karas called out, raising his right hand in greeting, "what a pleasure seeing you here. Managed the storm?"

"Karas." Eden acknowledged coldly. "Nothing like a little rain to clear the air."

"Or cleanse the earth of...stains." he sneered, baring his teeth and staring at Arielle who Eden could hear swallowing hard.

"I see you're keeping busy." Eden said plainly.

"Oh, that." he commented, turning his head briefly to the corpse and then back to Eden, "A little uncooperative, that one."

An evil grin crossed his lips and Eden knew that as this small talk was only Karas's way of trying to intimidate her and especially Arielle. She demonstrated no emotion or interest towards the bandit, sitting upright in her saddle with a commanding, unwavering presence and a hostile half grin emerging from her mouth. She was simply waiting for what it was he really wanted.

"And how cooperative is that little tart being?" he asked with a little lick of his lips that made Arielle shiver.

"I've dealt with worse."

"That I can believe!" Karas admitted in a booming laugh, "So what do you plan on doing with her?"

"Taking her to town."

"There's no reason to."

"No reason not to."

Karas studied the two women for a moment, resting his gaze on the blond and giving her such a piercing look that Arielle felt as if her clothes were being ripped off her by his eyes and she unconsciously raised one hand and pulled her collar tighter around her neck. He smiled wickedly at her reaction and finally trotted up closer to Eden.

"You know, I think you can give her to me now. She's been enough of a burden to you already."

"You're sweet, truly," Eden responded cynically, knowing that his concern was as heartfelt as a kiss of a viper, "but I wouldn't dream of putting you in such an imposition. You are a busy man after all."

"Damn it, woman! Don't forget that I'm the leader of this band!" he shouted impatiently, his voice thundering across the hills and making Arielle want to hide under a rock.

"And don't you forget that I am Zauba'a." Eden growled in such a low tone that it was barely heard, but carried more threat than a thousand yells.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Well, that's your first mistake." she hissed through her teeth, narrowing her eyes.

Arielle was afraid her heart was going to explode out of her chest and she fought back the urge to cling to the raider. She watched the two raiders duel in words and icy glares, feeling the tension rise with every passing moment. She secretly hoped that the black raider had come out with the upper hand when Karas grew quiet, but soon saw she was mistaken.

"Give her to me now." he growled menacingly, leaning forward and glaring at Eden as if he was trying to impale her on his gaze.

And then she noticed a strange shift in the black raider, a bizarre relaxed pressure in which she could sense that the black marauder was completely focused on Karas, but also at a knowing peace. Eden had felt that strange feeling before and she felt it clearly now. It was one of many that she had had since she could remember. That feeling of  _knowing_  something with absolute certainty. These were always things that had not yet come to pass or sometimes hadn't even yet appeared and through some unknown design, Eden already knew it. When she was younger, she sometimes mentioned these sensations and was belittled and called everything from a daydreamer to a witch. She learned to never speak of it again. And this time, after feeling Karas's demand travel through her and invoke that strange sensation of quiet resolution, she knew that there was something more in all of this. She didn't have the time nor strength to wonder over it now, but past experience had taught her that the sensations should be listened to. Arielle had to be kept away from that man and that was all Eden needed to know.

"Go home Karas. There'll be no bargaining here today." she said icily.

Karas only shot back a cold grin and turned back to his raiding party, trotting quietly away. Eden took a deep breath and felt the blond shaking in back of her, her voice emitting the slightest little mumbles that her sharp hearing was able to pick up.

"We're in a little trouble now." Eden told Arielle hurriedly.

"Why? He's riding away, isn't he?"

"Only to gather up the others."

"Why?" she asked, the fear growing in her voice.

"Because now he knows you're protected."

Arielle didn't have time to ask or even think about the meaning of what the raider had just said. Karas raised his sword in the air and gave a war yell that gained the attention of the rest of his band and sent them bounding in his direction. He turned his horse back in Eden's direction, a cold sneer on his face.

"Remember when you asked what Zauba'a means, princess?" Eden asked Arielle, her voice laced with an anxiety mixed with resolve.

"Yes..."

"Well, you're about to find out."

Time seemed to slow down for Arielle as the blood drained from her face and pooled somewhere down in her feet and fear crawled up her spine. She sensed Eden's whole body tense as she clutched the reins with such strength that her knuckles turned white. Eden almost didn't look human, her determination etched now on a face of stone, her every visible muscle rippling in ultimate exertion. And though like a slab of granite, she moved with the flow and grace of a mighty, ancient river, knowing its path and purpose. Not a single movement or breath was wasted or without function and Arielle would have studied the raider for hours in utter fascination if she hadn't been so terrified.

"Arielle, hold on to me and for the love of God, don't let go!" Eden commanded fiercely.

And with that Eden veered the horse off to the side and began to gallop away. Arielle didn't need to be told twice and instinctively grabbed hold of the raider, wrapping her arms around her waist and clinging to her for dear life. She could feel the powerful muscles of both the horse and the woman, working at full force, expelling massive amounts of energy and driving in a practiced unison. She heard the hooves of the advancing raiders and began to pray for any kind of help. Eden leaned forward, close to the horse's neck and they seemed to communicate, exchanging breathless whispers and ghosts of words, working together as one unstoppable force.

"Vola!" she ordered straight over the horse's head in a whisper that seemed to slide out of her lips like thick smoke and pour over the horse in an igniting magic.

The crawling time suddenly accelerated with back-breaking force and the horse sped up into such a run that Arielle was nearly flung off. She almost hysterically dug her fingers into the rider's leathers, clamping her legs around the bounding horse and squeezing her eyes shut so hard that tears began to creep out of them. She was absolutely convinced that she was going to die on that horse that seemed to have just changed into the wind itself. Her senses strained almost to their breaking point in her frenzied fight for survival; the hooves pounded in her ears, the labored breathing of the horse and rider heaved against her skin, dust filled her nose, the raider's angry, fluttering, black fabric brushed against her body assertively. But there was also a part of Arielle that remained eerily calm in the unique feeling of protection she sensed on that blazing horse, holding on to that relentless rider. That part synchronized with the horse and rider and hurled forward with them, knowing that they were right, knowing that they were held in grace.

She was frozen in such terror on that racing steed that she hadn't noticed when they had slowed down to a trot.

"Arielle..." Eden said quietly, trying to gain the blond's attention, "Arielle..."

Eden frowned slightly though understandingly, turning her head to the side to see Arielle clinging to her out of the corner of her eye.

"Arielle." she repeated a little louder and lightly touched one of her arms.

"What? What? What is it?" Arielle asked in a near yell, her eyes flying open.

Eden allowed her some time to notice that the neck-breaking run was over, the raiders were gone, they were safe. Arielle turned her head to one side and then the other and began to calm the breathing she had just noticed was racing.

"It's over. We're going to walk some now." Eden said quietly.

Arielle kept turning her head one way and then the other almost as if she didn't trust her own eyes and judgment.

"Princess, you can let go of me now."

"Oh," she said, seeming to finally break out of her stupor, "right. Sorry. Damn..."

Arielle practically peeled herself off of the raider, the leather armor leaving marks on her skin. She sat up straight, took a deep breath, and looked around her in awe.

"Holy, sweet mother Mary and Joseph, that was...amazing." Arielle admitted somewhat breathlessly.

Eden gave faint nod of agreement and then carefully dismounted. She then raised her hand up to Arielle who took it without question and let herself be eased down to the ground. Eden took the reins of exhausted horse in her hands while Arielle steadied herself, letting the solidity of the ground work its way up through her legs and back. She took a deep breath, glad to be alive and exhilarated to the point of bursting.

"So that was Zauba'a?"

"Pretty much. It's an Arabic word. Zauba'a is believed to be a demon that takes the form a whirlwind. When people saw me ride like that, they thought me a demon and that's what they called me." Eden explained.

Arielle took a long look at the rider in contemplation, clasping her hands around the strap of her bag.

"A demon whirlwind, the black horse and dress...you are making a statement, aren't you?" Arielle judged lightly.

Eden shrugged defenselessly, bringing a grin to the blond's face.

"But then that would also mean that Zauba'a isn't your real name." Arielle noticed.

She then saw the raider's expression change back to her hostile guardedness and her shoulders slumped somewhat.

"Let's go. We still have a long road ahead of us." Eden simply stated and began to walk forward, the horse loyally at her side.

Arielle joined the raider's side and for a time, they walked through the desert, each in their own thoughts, each pretending that what had just happened was really nothing out of the ordinary. Eden was thankful for the clouds that had gathered again, covering the sun every so often and treating them to a light, cool breeze.

"Why do you call me those things?" Arielle suddenly asked in honest curiosity.

"What things?"

"Princess... duchess..."

Eden knew why she did that. It was a course of habit. It kept people at arm's length, heck, at empire's length; it was safer for her that way. She used the terms to belittle, to scoff, to pretend that the people she met meant nothing to her for fear that one day, someone might mean too much. Attachment was a useless and dangerous ballast in these lands, in her life and she had learned to keep herself clear of it.

"Don't know." Eden replied with a shrug.

Arielle gave a single, silent nod and turned her gaze to the ground.  _Going nowhere._ Eden knotted her brows and also drove her eyes into the dirt. She noticed how the young woman kept making her think with the simplest sentences about things she wanted to keep buried or dead. It made her anxious and somewhat bothered by her. But before Eden could ever take the time to wonder about the blond's ability to slip through the minute cracks in her mile-high walls, an exhaustion would overcome her and remind her that it didn't really matter anymore anyway. The tension and tiredness battled within Eden constantly and she sometimes reached a point where she wanted to simply fall onto her knees and scream until her lungs gave out. But there was no one who would listen and she was not one to kneel. The turmoil within her caused her to pull too much on the reins in her hands and the horse whickered in disapproval, tossing its head a little. Eden looked up at him and after a couple of moments loosened the reins and returned her eyes to the ground. Arielle watched this silent exchange between the raider and her horse and found herself wishing that she could communicate with the raider to even half the extent the horse could. The idea of being in envy of a horse brought a smile to her face and she shook her head in amusing disbelief.

"What did you mean by saying I was protected?" she asked timidly, determined not to give up on prying something out of the raider.  _She's_  s _o...stubborn_.

She watched the raider suddenly stop and stiffen, visibly unnerved with the question and she automatically regretted having asked.

"It's just that," she added quickly, trying to calm the raider down, "I did feel protected."

Eden gave her a puzzled look, blinking.

"Amidst the flurry of stones, hooves, and men trying to kill us," the blond recounted with ease, adding some gestures for emphasis, but keeping her eyes constantly on the Eden, "I really did feel protected."

Eden felt agitated, as if someone was pounding on her door, trying to knock down her walls, break and crawl through her windows. She knew protecting Arielle at that moment was evident to her, but she never thought that the blond would be able to actually feel it. That small remark again slipped through some tiny crack in her armor and tried to stir up a feeling Eden hadn't felt for much too long. Purpose. Eden had known that Arielle needed to be protected and Arielle felt that protection envelope her. They had actually shared something for those brief, furious moments. Having this gift, this curse that couldn't be spoken of was something she was already accustomed to, but the thought that someone could also sense that gift was something Eden had never given any thought. She looked at those green eyes with the same intensity as they were looking at her and the green eyes noticed her uneasiness. Then the familiar, tired resignation spilled over her again.  _It's too late now_.

"Come on," Eden said shortly, breaking their gaze and turning her eyes back to the ground, "it's getting late."

"Wait." Arielle said and walked over to one of the saddlebags, fiddled with it, and returned to Eden with a handful of dates and figs. "Here, you earned it."

Eden glanced up at her and for a moment gave a look of baffled amazement as if she was just being handed the beating heart of a dragon. Arielle smiled and then Eden's face was again covered in its stone case and her eyes burrowed into the ground.

"Let's go."

Arielle dropped into step beside her and contented herself with the knowledge that this time what she said and did somehow made its way through the twisting passages of the black raider. She watched the her cautiously chew on a fig and already knew that this day would make one of her favorite stories.


	4. The Vision

Ringing church bells sing in the distance, filling the air. The air hot, dust hanging, unsettled. A winding path, snaking down from the hills to the walls of a great city. Sandy walls, high, thick walls and towers. The desert winds, the flag of Antioch fluttering in those winds. The winding road, a long line of carts, men, women, knights, merchants, children slinking down and through. Walls, alleys, hovels, churches, marketplaces, taverns, armorers. People talking, laughing, running, haggling, working.

"Eden..."

The whisper hangs in the air. The path again, overlooking the city. The warm sun.

"Eden..."

The whisper brushes her face. Eden turns to her right. There stands a bright figure, brighter than the desert sun, more magnificent. Outstretched wings white as virgin snow. Eyes of flame.

"I can see you. I can rest my eyes on you, angel."

"Yes, Eden, you can. You do not fear me." 

Brilliant silver armor and robes the color of the clearest blue sky. Such serenity. Such peace of being. 

A large cross on a hill in the desert sand. A lone sentinel warrior guarding the winding road. So many people streaming by. A voice. A voice she's heard somewhere before outside herself. The cross. The rolling wind. A black cloak dancing on the strong breeze. 

A calm, unyielding warrior. Red and black. Fabric and metal. Sword, dagger, shield. That voice... 

"It is time, Eden." 

"Please..." 

The angel raises his hand. 

"Take heed, guardian for the Lord is with you. Travel to Antioch. Find there all that you have seen. Take that which waits there for you. There paths will straighten and converge. There shall the will of the Creator of all things come to pass."

"I...Angel, I..."

"Take heart and have faith, Eden. You will no longer be the Arab demon you never really were."

"No...I..." 

The angel departs in a soft silence. The smell of earth, the crunching of hooves against small stones and dry dirt. That presence so nearby... 

The church bells ringing again, the clash of swords in the distance. The cross against the sun, swaying bells against the clouds. The warrior sitting on a large rock, patiently waiting. The hum of arrows sailing through the air. A snow of white feathers. The warrior stands before her and points a drawn sword at her, a sword Eden knows... 

Eden awoke with a start, breathing heavily, her hair clinging to her damp forehead. She sat up, resting her forearms on her drawn knees and hung her head slightly, trying to catch her breath. The desert night was quiet, the fire burned shyly. She turned her head and saw Arielle sleeping calmly on her bedroll. She turned back and stared out into the night in front of her. 

"Gabriel..." she whispered.


	5. The Straightening of Paths

"We should reach Antioch by the evening." Eden said.

Arielle merely nodded. Eden, with reins in hand, was leading the horse, giving him some well deserved rest; it was a warm day. Arielle was walking beside the raider, her hands clutching the strap of her bag.

"Assuming we don't meet any of your... friends along the way." Arielle added good-humoredly.

"Yes, assuming." Eden replied with a very tiny snicker.

Arielle tried to tally up all that they had encountered during their journey to Antioch. There had been the raid that started everything. Then they escaped Karas's men in a mad flurry of hooves. Arielle almost stepped on some desert snake. Arielle insisted they help repair a pilgrim family's broken cart wheel on the road. Eden left Arielle at camp to find water without telling her and almost gave the blond a heart attack. She learned the hard way that no one touches Eden's horse when they both decided to ignore her in anger for a day after Arielle had tried to mount the horse herself. Arielle tried to chase a rabbit across the brush and Eden thought she went mad. Eden took an entire minute to teach some stray marauder who had decided to bother them a lesson. Every morning, Arielle awoke to the black raider glaring down at her impatiently. All in all, Arielle had concluded, it had been quite an adventure. She found herself growing a little sad with having to see it end already.

"You know," Arielle began in her usual chatty tone and Eden took a deep breath in anticipation, "I happen to be very perceptive if I do say so myself. And I noticed that your sword is different from the others I've seen."

"It is." Eden replied simply and flatly.

"Everyone here seems to carry sabers, but you, you carry a Frankish sword, don't you?"

"I do."

Arielle sighed, seeing that getting anything more than two worded answers out of the raider seemed next to impossible at the moment.

"It's..." Eden said tentatively after a few moments, making Arielle turn to look at her, "it's... I've had this sword for a while. I, I like it."

Arielle observed the raider's rare, slightly personal admission and how her one hand had unconsciously slid down to the hilt of the sword, holding it firmly as if she was afraid it might suddenly be taken from her. She seemed to be more at ease with one hand on her sword and Arielle could see that it really was something special to her.

"It's a beautiful sword." Arielle admitted with a smile, "So much in fact, that I would almost want one too. But, I've never carried any weapons or taken part in fighting. My father sometimes took me along on hunting parties, usually because I would moan about be bored for so long that he would take me along just to shut me up. It's unladylike, he would always say..."

Eden noted that a hint of sadness had entered Arielle's tone again.

"Swords aren't for princesses." she stated with a slight shrug of her shoulders, "But then again, neither are Arab demons."

Arielle glanced at the raider momentarily and smiled, seeing the compliment. Eden found that there was, in fact, a part of her that was rather proud and even impressed with the blond's handling of their journey. She had expected complaining, fainting, and wailing, but experienced none of that. True, if left alone Arielle might have begun to cry like the time Eden had gone off for water, but she really couldn't expect a Frankish lady to be able to survive days in the desert lands with ease. Arielle housed a calm spirit of adventure and Eden realized that of all the people she could have been traveling with now, she could have done a lot worse.

Their day was a quiet one and the sun had begun its descent when they reached an outcropping that overlooked a great city.

"There it is. That's Antioch." Eden announced and saw Arielle smile in delight out of the corner of her eye.

Antioch stretched out before them. Its long walls seemed to stretch on forever and its five gates stood like immortal sentinels. The front of the main gate bustled with activity even late in the day and a thin stream of people could be seen entering and exiting the city.

"It's... remarkable." Arielle wondered.

"The queen of the East." Eden added, "Let's go, it'll be dark soon."

An uneasiness settled over both the travelers as they neared the city. Arielle was finding it hard to deny that she had enjoyed their adventures and even the company of the brooding raider. She was finding it even harder to get rid of the idea to tell the raider all this, but next to impossible to find a way to do so that would leave all her bones intact. She grew quieter with the passing moments, sad to see the complicated, stubborn raider go and wondering how she would fare now on her own to Jerusalem.

Eden grew agitated with the memories of the vision in her dream. She had had these types of visions before and she knew that they weren't simply some haphazard product of a bored imagination. This particular vision she had seen before, though never did it have as specific a message as it did this time. The explicitness of the vision worried her; there was more to come, this was just a beginning, something was amiss. Yet, Eden was troubled because she had come to Antioch with her own plan and purpose. She was tired of the fighting, killing, and battles for survival, but mostly she was sick of disgusting herself. No matter how fast she could ride or how well she could wield her sword, she couldn't escape herself; there was only one way to do that. She didn't understand why it had to be Antioch, why now, why she couldn't just be left alone. But there was a dangerous truth she knew all too well; God's will was one thing, man's free will was another.

They walked through the main gate and were immediately swallowed by all the people, sounds, and smells of the lively city. Arielle absorbed everything around her through an open, smiling mouth and wide, captivated eyes. She thought that she could spend weeks there and not fully discover everything Antioch had to offer. Eden's sullen voice tore her from her enchantment.

"So..." she said slowly, looking at the ground and fiddling with the reins, "I guess this is it."

"Yes... you accompanied me to Antioch just like you promised you would. And you didn't cut out my tongue." Arielle said, trying to add humor, but something in the raider's presence made the humor sink like a stone, replacing it with a strange heaviness of being.

"Yes, I did."

"Thank you, for everything. It was a great adventure. It's a story I'll never stop telling." Arielle said nobly.  _Can it wait perhaps one more day?_

"Yes, well, I said I'd get you here and that's what I did. All's well, I guess."

The dejected stance of the raider tugged at something in Arielle's heart. She wanted to touch her hand in comfort. She wanted to suggest eating supper at the local tavern. She wanted to know if the raider was perhaps traveling to anywhere further later. But she didn't know how to make any of these things be.

"I'll be staying here a while..." Arielle mentioned timidly and saw the raider's eyes glance at her and then return to the ground.

"You should." she replied shortly.  _Why now?_

The tension was getting to be more than Arielle could handle and she found her fingers tangling and untangling over and over again. She finally sighed loudly under the pressure and the raider mistakenly understood it as a sign of annoyance.

"Alright then, I think I should get going." she said.

"I don't even know your name." Arielle suddenly blurted out with a look of dismay.

Eden lightly nodded her hanging head, sighed, and looked at Arielle defiantly. Arielle was shocked to see a mixture of heavy sadness and submission in those arresting eyes and she drew in a small breath.

"Take care." Eden said simply and turned to leave.

"Please," Arielle added hurriedly, "take care of yourself too."

It was all she could manage to say. Eden nodded and then walked off with her horse and was lost in the commotion of the streets. Arielle took a long, heavy breath.

"I am so indescribably silly." she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

She then stood up straight, straightened out her dress, and immersed herself in the nearby marketplace, full of colors, sounds, and smells that she had never encountered.

Eden finally found a good place to stable her horse.

"Be good," she whispered to him, stroking his forehead and nose, "then go."

The horse stared at her with gravity and made no noise. Eden patted him once more and turned to leave.

Her vision was so firmly burned into her mind, that Eden decided that she had no choice, but to adhere to it. Or at least in part. She spent the better part of the next day scouring the city for what she saw in her dream. Finally, in an armorer's shop in some small alley on the edge of the city, she was rewarded. She walked in and her attention was immediately caught by a red gambeson and a breastplate that was placed over it. She walked up to the burly, but friendly armorer who was wiping his thick hands with a cloth.

"Nice display." she ventured, motioning her head towards the armor.

"Aye. You interested?" he asked.

"Maybe. Seems alright."

"Aye, it is. Frankish, you know. Wouldn't shame a Templar. Have a looksee if you want." the armorer suggested quite warmly, motioning Eden towards the armor.

She walked up to it almost hesitantly. She slowly picked up the breastplate. The gleam of it was exactly as it was in her vision and the feel of it sent a hum through her hands telling her that it was hers to take.

"You know, most folks don't even notice that there lot. Seems to almost be waiting around for you though." the armorer mentioned.

Eden glanced curiously at him and he just shrugged. She looked back at the breastplate and caught her own reflection looking at her. She stood silent for a few moments, caught in that stare, the flames of the hearth dancing in the corners of her eyes, the rushing of its heat pouring into her ears. She brushed her fingers along the gambeson, the coarseness of skin against fabric that was waiting to be worn flooding her ears.

"Looks like that there lot found itself a proud owner." the armorer noticed with a smile, "Good thing too. Meant to see the world, that suit. Have stories told about it."

"Stories?" Eden asked curiously, turning to him with slightly furrowed brows.

"Sure. Why not?" he replied, shrugging.

Eden looked at him for a few moments and pulled out her coin purse.

"So how much?" she asked and the armorer's grin widened.

Eden took the armor back to her horse and packed it into the saddlebags. The stable keeper looked at her a little warily, wondering why someone would leave things that valuable out in the open, but Eden knew very well that just the sight of her horse made everyone take a step back and no one would dare to either steal it or anything near it. She then turned on her heel and quickly walked away.

She had done what was asked of her, she fulfilled God's will and now she wanted to be left alone to fulfill her own. She slowed her step and breath, falling into unison with the capitulation inside her. She let everything that was outside of that slowly seep out of her and spill onto the streets of Antioch until she felt completely empty. Time slowed down for her as she felt the night fill her, the black she wore on the outside matching the icy black now within. She walked in time with phantoms, the people she passed hardly noticing her except for the slight chill she left behind. She slowly unwrapped her turban, the fabric unwinding like a giant, dark serpent and she let it finally float to the ground to be trampled underfoot like it so rightly deserved. She meandered in and out of alleys and streets and the dancing shadows caused by flickering torches, the inner death wish steering her to the place of her choosing. She had waited so long for her peace. She had seen too much, paid too high a price, become an abomination. She had forgotten the feeling of being human and being a monster was too much like a second skin. There was that one piece of her, that one minuscule ray of hope that refused to fade and go out, that one remnant of the essence of a chosen one of God. But it wasn't enough and the strains were too many and Eden finally decided to surrender to the shadows that had her surrounded and give herself and the rest of the world some final peace. She noticed and sensed nothing, driven now by a deep seeded resignation. She finally felt like she was a part of something that was meant to be.

"Leave me be you whore's son!"

The scream tore through Eden's mind all of the sudden and she raised her eyes to find its source. She saw that down the alley, a group of guards were pushing around a woman and jeering. Although she thought it a rather pitiful form of entertainment, it wasn't all that uncommon. She was about to turn the corner to evade the conflict when the sight of the woman caught her eye. It was Arielle.

"We're just going to teach you some manners, wench. A little lesson to dull that sharp tongue of yours." a guard who was holding her by the hair growled into her face and then took to roughly cutting her hair with his dagger.

"Help, someone, please!" Arielle began to scream and tried to escape but with every attempt, one of the guards would kick or hit her back into place with a loud laugh.

Something in Eden imploded. Her heart stopped for a beat and then started again, now sending a fire through her blood. The flames licked her skin and surged up her spine, crackling in her mind and lighting her eyes. She heard nothing but that screaming and laughing. Without the slightest thought, instinctively, her feet turned her away from the corner and back into the alley and towards the men. When she was close enough, she suddenly stopped and simply stood there glaring at them. She was steeped in shadow, only the hilt of her sword glinting in the dark on the faint flickers of the light it caught. Slowly, the men noticed her there and stopped what they were doing.

"Who goes there?" one yelled.

Eden was silent. Her mind flooded with the sounds of an infernal blaze and each one of Arielle's whimpers. A brilliant, almost god-like force filled the entire fabric of her being and pulsated off her skin and she let herself drown in it.  _What is this force?_

"It's a little late in the night for a walk. Perhaps you're looking for trouble? Or maybe... entertainment?" the leader of the group growled jeeringly and roughly threw Arielle to the ground and turned fully around towards Eden. The men let out a collective chuckle, but she still said and did nothing, hearing Arielle's whimpering and moans of pain. The leader grew impatient.

"Perhaps I'll just skin you alive instead!" he threatened.

This time Eden let out a low, chilling laugh that made the men uneasy.

"Oh," she hissed lowly, unsheathing her sword slowly, "that's nothing compared with what I'm going to do to you."

Arielle heard the men rush over to attack Eden, kicking up dust and pebbles as they did. She heard the clashing of blades and the grunts of the guards who completely underestimated who they were dealing with. She raised her head after one of the guards flew backwards and landed with a heavy thud next to her, his face bloodied, his eyes transfixed in fear.

"You're not human! You're a demon!" the leader cried out, on his knees, Eden holding him by the hair from behind and with her sword at his neck.

Her black was now sprayed with the blood of all the men and her eyes flashed with rage. Arielle had managed to somehow turn and propped herself up on one elbow to see what was happening and saw Eden standing over the leader with sword drawn.

"Zauba'a." she whispered.

"You, you , you're Zauba'a?" the leader sputtered out and began to shake in growing fear. "You, you are a demon among, among demons."

"Yes," Eden hissed straight into his ear, pushing the sword hard enough against his neck that it began to draw blood, "that I am. And now I'll send straight to the hell that I come from, you worthless shit."

A whimper brought her gaze up to catch Arielle's eyes and she was touched for a moment by something beyond her recognition. The fire in her remained, but the rage was snuffed out with perplexing ease by that green. Arielle finally slumped back down in exhaustion and closed her eyes. A moment later, Eden returned her attention to the man in her hands, her fury spent.

"If I ever see you again, I will tear your skin off in little strips until you curse the very fact that you were ever born." she promised him in a tone so low and cold that it sent shivers up and down the shaking guard, drawing her sword down the side of his face and leaving a trail of blood.

"Get out of here!" Eden shouted and kicked him in the back and watched him scurry away crying.

When he was gone, Eden took a deep breath and walked up quickly to Arielle, who was still lying on the ground.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she quickly wiped and sheathed her sword and crouched down next to her.

"Yes, I think. Mostly. I don't know." Arielle said weakly, looking up at Eden.

Eden sighed heavily. Arielle's face was a variety of scrapes, cuts, bruises and blood mixed with tears and dirt and Eden could only imagine what other damage was most likely done, but could not be seen. Arielle began to tremble uncontrollably and it jolted something in the raider. She felt a great bitterness, but this time it didn't concern her, but another human being. She resented Arielle being treated that way, subjected to such danger. She didn't deserve it, it was unfair beyond any words and it made Eden angry.

"You seem to invite trouble." Eden said a little absently, looking at her for any other visible signs of damage.

"It seems I do." she acknowledged in a trembling voice with a smile on shaking lips and absently moving slightly to rest her heavy head on Eden's knee.

Eden's first reaction to the touch was to jump away, but as soon as that reflex appeared, it faded away. Arielle could feel the woman stiffen, but was too tired to be concerned this time. And now the inferno in Eden suddenly shifted from a blaze to a milder, warm fire.

Eden looked at the sight for a few moments with a great stillness and sensitivity. She sighed heavily again and looked up the alley both ways and then back down at Arielle who was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.  _What is this?_

"I have to get you out of here." she decided, "Can you walk?"

"I don't know."

Eden said nothing for a few moments, weighing two diverse paths with gravity in her mind.

"Do you trust me right now?" she suddenly asked.

Arielle looked at her for a couple of moments, surprised by the sudden question and thinking of how to answer. There were several different conflicting responses in her head, but she decided on a simple nod.

"Alright. I'll get you out of here."

Eden turned to let out a high-pitched whistle out into the night. She then put her arms around Arielle, picking her up and then curling one arm around her waist and placing Arielle's arm around her shoulders and holding it there. She took one step forward. Arielle moved with some pain and awkwardly, but she could walk.

"Alright, steady now. I've got you."

Eden walked Arielle towards her horse that had just trotted up as if he had just been waiting around the corner. She lifted her onto the horse as gently as she could. She then mounted it herself, in front of Arielle and wrapped the blond's arms about her waist.

"Hold on to me." Eden said and felt Arielle's grip tighten.

In a slow but steady trot, they left the streets of Antioch and moved out into the dark outskirts of the city. With the bigger bumps and jolts of the streets, Arielle winced and moaned quietly in her pain, her head falling from one side to the other as she tried to keep awake.

"Lay your head on my back. Between my shoulders." Eden instructed and Arielle complied and it made the ride more bearable.

When they finally left the walled city so far behind that Arielle was afraid that the night might swallow them, Eden slowed down and stopped.

"Here we are. Let me go now and I'll help you down." she said and once she unwrapped Arielle from herself, she slid off the saddle and then raised her arms towards Arielle.

Weak, frightened, and exhausted, Arielle reached down towards Eden and when she felt that the raider's arms had her, she practically collapsed into them. She spilled down off the horse and Eden scooped her into her arms with a bit of a huff and walked towards the seemingly abandoned hovel that Arielle only now noticed.

Once inside, Eden lay Arielle down on a bed of straw.

"I'll be back in a moment." Eden mentioned quietly.

Eden tended to the horse and took the saddlebags inside. She took a quick inventory of the place and saw that everything was mostly where she left it and then went towards the fireplace to make a fire. The nights were cold and the hovel a little drafty; it needed work that Eden had never found the time for. The fire began to spread warmth and light around the one room hovel.

Eden took off her sword belt and placed it on the table, picking up one saddlebag and then sitting down next to Arielle to tend to her wounds. Arielle couldn't decide which one of them probably looked more fragile, her or the raider. Eden busied herself with cloths and water and wiping away the dirt and blood, but did it so delicately as if she was afraid that Arielle might shatter if she touched her. Each cut or scrape she cleaned was one too many and stirred Eden's anger at the injustice of it all.

"This is not right." she whispered to herself, but Arielle had heard, sensing the raider's strange frustration.

"Am I bleeding wrong?" Arielle asked in a try at humor.

Eden looked at her, but Arielle saw that her anger was too much for a tiny remark to quell. She felt sorry for the raider then. She didn't want to be the cause of such commotion, such unease. Distracted, she gently placed her hand on the raider's wrist. Eden tensed and waited for some overwhelming admission to come and scare her half to death, but Arielle only smiled lightly and Eden found that that smile told her exactly what she needed to hear and she took a deep breath and calmed slightly. She then returned to her task.  _What is all this? What is this about?_

Once Eden finished cleaning the wounds on that bard's face and hands, her brows knotted and her face betrayed some confusion.

"What it is?" Arielle asked in slight worry.

"Well, the rest... um, your um... I have to... maybe something's... broken or..." the raider stuttered and Arielle tried to hold back a grin.

"It's alright. Go ahead." she said soothingly.

"I'm just going to feel for breaks... or ruptures. I'll try to be gentle." Eden assured her.

She then ran her skilled hands down Arielle's torso, first checking if any ribs were broken and then down to her midsection to see if any organs might have been damaged. Arielle told her that she didn't feel any great pain anywhere except for probable bruises. Eden nodded in agreement and she then took out a few different salves and ointments and applied them where necessary. Feeling the warmth of the fire fill the room, the safety of being far from immediate harm and the care of the raider, Arielle felt very at ease.

"You know," she began a little dreamily, "I could get used to this."

Eden replied with a little snort, mixing amusement with disapproval.

"I'd rather you didn't. What if I wasn't there?" she replied and a heavy sadness tainted her voice.  _So close_ _._

"But you were."

The statement brought Eden back to the present and she wondered at the bends and breaks of every day that could actually lead to changing someone's life completely. They had come close. If Eden had taken a different alley or left earlier, if Arielle hadn't had screamed. They had come so very close.

Eden finished applying the salves and wrapped one particularly nasty cut on the blond's forehead in a bandage. She glanced at her and was rather proud of the job she had done in repairing the young maiden. She eased herself into the chair and let out a deep breath, relaxing a little for the first time that day.

"You know duchess, we really need to stop meeting like this." she said with a slightly raised eyebrow and Arielle chuckled.

"I know, I'll quickly grow destitute from constantly having you properly rewarded."

And in that moment the both of them knew that they had just jumped over their first hurdle.

After a moment Eden got up and started to bustle about the hovel, unpacking this, moving that, rearranging the other thing. Arielle watched her for a while and then succumbed to her heavy eyes for a time. Eden tried to make the hovel as comfortable as it could be since she knew that they would be staying there for a while. When she finished, Eden sat back down in the chair next to Arielle, leaning back in it, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing her arms over her chest. Arielle's eyes fluttered open to the sounds near her.

"Shame about your hair." Eden said after some time.

Arielle raised one hand and felt around her hair, scowling somewhat.

"Yes, well, better my hair than my throat. I can go to the barber when I'm better."

Eden observed the floor while Arielle stared at the door, an easy silence hanging between them. Eden noticed the blond's eyelids begin to droop.

"You should get some sleep. You had an eventful day."

"You too." Arielle noticed.

Eden got up, checked the windows and door, and then arranged a nice pile of sacks of hay at the foot of the bed, near the fireplace. When it seemed comfortable enough, she stripped off her armor and boots, placed her sword by her side, and lay down, her body beginning to feel the exertion the day had demanded.

"Good night..." Arielle began.

"Eden. My name is Eden." the raider suddenly added before she could stop herself.

"Sleep well, Eden."

Eden didn't see the smile that had crept over Arielle's face right before she fell asleep.


End file.
